Sanas Cormaic


Sanas Cormaic, also known as Cormac's Glossary, is an early Irish glossary containing etymologies and explanations of over 1,400 Irish words, many of which are difficult or outdated. The shortest and earliest version of the work is ascribed to Cormac mac Cuilennáin, king-bishop of Munster. It is an encyclopedic dictionary containing simple synonymous explanations in Irish or Latin of Irish words. In some cases, he attempts to give the etymology of the words, and in others he concentrates on an encyclopedic entry. It is held to be the earliest linguistic dictionary in any of the non-classical languages of Europe. Many of its entries are still frequently cited in Irish and Celtic scholarship.

Manuscripts and editions (with external links)

The glossary survives, in part or whole, in at least six manuscripts. The work may have been included in the Saltair Chaisil, a now-lost manuscript compilation that is thought to have contained various genealogical and etiological lore relating to Munster. The versions of Sanas Cormaic divide into two groups: the earliest and shortest version represented by Leabhar Breac and the fragment in MS Laud 610, and a longer one represented by the Yellow Book of Lecan, which underwent some expansion in the hands of later redactors.
ManuscriptsEditions and translations

  • Stokes, Whitley. Three Irish Glossaries: Cormac's Glossary, O'Davoren's Glossary and a Glossary to the Calendar of Oengus the Culdee. London: Williams and Norgate, 1862. 1-44.
  • *Edition in HTML markup available from Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae.
  • * PDF available from Internet Archive.
  • Stokes, Whitley and John O'Donovan. Sanas Cormaic: Cormac's Glossary. Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society. Calcutta: O.T. Cutter, 1868.
  • *PDF available from Google Books.
  • MS Laud 610 = Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud 610, f. 79r-84r. Fragment corresponding to YBL, 756–1224.
  • Stokes, Whitley. "On the Bodleian Fragment of Cormac's Glossary." Transactions of the Philological Society : 149–206.
  • Yellow Book of Lecan = Dublin, TCD MS 1318, cols. 3-87.
  • Meyer, Kuno. "Sanas Cormaic." In Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts 4 : I-XIX, 1–128.
  • MS 1317 = Dublin, TCD MS 1317, pp. 13–39 and pp. 77–102.
    		• See Early Irish Glossaries.
  • Book of Leinster = Dublin, TCD MS 1339, p. 179a-b. Fragment, corresponding to YBL 1224-34 and 1268–75.
  • Best, R.I. and M.A. O’Brien. Book of Leinster. Vol. 4. Dublin, 1965. pp. 780–1.
  • Stokes, Whitley. Three Irish Glossaries. London, 1862. pp. 44–5.
  • Leabhar Ua Maine = Dublin, RIA, MS D II 1, pp. 177a-184a. Beginning, corresponding to YBL nos. 1–1224.
  • Meyer, Kuno. "Cormacs Glossar nach der Handschrift des Buches der Uí Maine." Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse : 290–319.
  • Dublin, RIA, MS 23 N 10: p. 74 ff. Entry for Prull.
  • Thurneysen, Rudolf. "Zu Cormacs Glossar." In Festschrift Ernst Windisch. Leipzig, 1914. pp. 8–37. PDF available from Google Books US.
  • London, British Museum Library, Harleian 5280: f 75r-v. Entries for Mug Éme and Prull.
  • ibidem.